I'm in tears. I have heartburn so bad some nights that I literally wake up throwing up in my mouth. I have never, EVER experienced anything like this. I try so hard to eat the appropriate foods so I don't get it, but there is just no predicting some nights. Right now, it's 2:45 a.m. and I have been up almost two hours not knowing whether I'm going to throw up. I'm SO freaking miserable!!!!! Nothing I do helps. I try hard to avoid all medicine, but the times I do take Tums, I swear it makes it worse. I sleep sitting almost straight up. Anyone else? WHY is this so bad?

Mama, I am in the exact same boat. The heartburn is by far the worst thing I have going right now. I spit up bile all day and all night long and I never feel completely fine.

Some of the things that have helped ease it have been: not eating for 3 hours before bedtime, cutting down on sugars (including fruit and simple carbs), sleeping in a semi-reclining position (or elevating the head of the bed), eating much smaller quantities, and - unfortunately - meds. Tums WILL NOT help - the problem for pregnant women is that the esophageal sphincter is relaxed and therefore more easily opened by the weight of the baby and the food in your belly. The only medicine that I have found that helps is Zantac (or the generic equivalent). Technically, it is not heartburn, but reflux.

It totally sucks :(

Proud Mama to DS1 09/07 , DD 07/09 , and DS2 06/11 . Feeling more and more blessed with each day!

Ugh, I had this in a horrid way. HAD being the operative word. Last pregnancy nothing abated the heartburn. This one my midwife suggested upping my iron. And no caffeine. Right like that is going to happen when you have three small kidlets and aren't sleeping at night....

But what I found that works, is chomping on a bit of ice before bedtime, the cold seemed to help my throat. I know that ice chomping is a sign of iron deficiency so I also started taking my prenatal about an hour before bedtime. I was amazed when it worked. I think adding the iron rich prenatal before bed helped stave off the heartburn. Good look.

I started back to Prilosec OTC at 24w as I have a history of LPR which is like GERD but you don't really get the pain. It refluxes into your voice box and you get hoarseness, coughiing, and feeling like you have a foreign body in your throat. I know it's not the most natural, but I'd previously had a scope popped down my throat and had lots of damage, so I just decided I would do it until end of pregnancy and not risk that damage again.

~Mama to my boys~ to a teen, a tween & a toddler and surro-mama to twins and their sister

Hugs... it is really one of the most unpleasant things ever! I had it fairly badly a few weeks ago - not as badly as you're describing, though! - and just bought some papaya enzymes the other day on the recommendation of my midwife. Of course, as soon as I shelled out $40 for them I haven't had heartburn since. :p Which I'm happy with, I guess! Anyway, if you haven't tried them, they might be worth a shot?

I also tried chewing raw almonds and it helped a bit, although I ran out quickly... DD kept saying "I have a baby in my tummy too, can I have an almond?" :p

I don't know what brands of heartburn stuff you get in the USA, but my MW okayed Mylanta and Gaviscon (two common brands here). I'm a bit anti-meds too, hence the papaya enzymes, but if it gets ghastly again I'll probably go for it. It's really a miserable way to live, and my sleep is pretty bad as it is...

I'm with you. :( I have severe GERD and it's acting up very badly right now. Plus, it's triggering my HG so I'm starting to vomit in my sleep when I go to bed with heartburn... bad juujuu. Tums isn't the greatest for a multitude of reasons, but other medications can relieve it and are perfectly safe. I'm taking either Rabeprazole (perscription) or the standard on the shelf remedy that are house-shaped and start with a Z... what is it again? Argh! Anyway, both of those work!!

If you want to go with something more natural you can try papaya enzyme or chewing on fresh fennel.

I'm sorry all you guys are feeling this too. Not fun! I went yesterday and bought some pineapple and papaya, both of which were recommended by my doula. I also got some Heartburn Soother tea. I didn't eat after 5 p.m. yesterday and drank a peligrino before bed (again, carbonation recommended by doula). I slept with four pillows under my head, one supporting my belly, and one between my legs - yes, SIX pillows! I slept relatively well and the heartburn wasn't near as bad. Ugh. I'm glad I haven't had to fight this with my other two pregnancies, but it's no fun this time around. Thanks for conspiring in my misery. :)

I started back to Prilosec OTC at 24w as I have a history of LPR which is like GERD but you don't really get the pain. It refluxes into your voice box and you get hoarseness, coughiing, and feeling like you have a foreign body in your throat. I know it's not the most natural, but I'd previously had a scope popped down my throat and had lots of damage, so I just decided I would do it until end of pregnancy and not risk that damage again.

That's exactly what I have...except I have it even when I am not pregnant. I have to take omeprazole all the time to avoid damage to my esophagus along with making sure I don't eat things that trigger reflux. My OB told me to keep taking it throughout my pregnancy and I thankfully have only had some minor feelings of it in the last couple weeks. Very minor compared to what I was feeling before I started taking it. I hate taking medication long term and especially when I am pregnant, but I didn't want to chance severe damage to my esophagus. After the baby is born I'm going to talk to my doctor about weaning off of it or other options so I don't have to keep taking the meds.

Mama to a 5.5 yr old boy and a 2.5 yr old girl. Expecting baby 3 (another girl!) late June***4***8***12***16***20***24***28***32***36***

Oh I don't mean weaning in the dependency way...I mean weaning so I don't have a sudden surge of acid that attacks my esophagus. I tried to stop before I was pregnant and I had some crazy horrible rebound acid problems. That's why I was thinking I might need to slowly wean, to give my stomach time to adjust back to normal levels.

But I have acid reflux even when I'm not pregnant. I probably need to go in and get scoped, but I didn't want to mess with it while I was nursing. Of course then I got pregnant and will be nursing for another two years, so now I'll probably end up having it done anyway while nursing. LOL! I know I can request anesthetics that will be okay while nursing, though.

Mama to a 5.5 yr old boy and a 2.5 yr old girl. Expecting baby 3 (another girl!) late June***4***8***12***16***20***24***28***32***36***

Just one word of advice for those of you with bad heartburn or GERD: sleeping on pillows can actually increase the pressure in your abdomen, which can push more acids out of your stomach and into your esophagus. The best thing to do is to elevate the head of your bed 4-6 inches so that you're sloped. You can get those plastic bed risers at the store, which are 4 inches, and just put them under the feet at the head of the bed. Sleeping on your left side can help as well.

Rach, the scope wasn't too bad actually and you should be able to do it while nursing as it was just a local anesthesia. I haven't talked to anyone else who has the LPR instead of the GERD. I seriously thought the ENT was joking with me about it! It sounded so crazy LOL I have it not pregnant. But, if I take a double dose of the Prilosec OTC for 6-8 weeks it seems to be okay for a long while. Then, I'll get almost an 'attack' that something has triggered and I'll go back on the meds for the 6-8 weeks and fine again. I kwym about 'weaning' off. Going cold turkey makes my stomach churn and hurt!

~Mama to my boys~ to a teen, a tween & a toddler and surro-mama to twins and their sister

I'm in tears. I have heartburn so bad some nights that I literally wake up throwing up in my mouth. I have never, EVER experienced anything like this. I try so hard to eat the appropriate foods so I don't get it, but there is just no predicting some nights. Right now, it's 2:45 a.m. and I have been up almost two hours not knowing whether I'm going to throw up. I'm SO freaking miserable!!!!! Nothing I do helps. I try hard to avoid all medicine, but the times I do take Tums, I swear it makes it worse. I sleep sitting almost straight up. Anyone else? WHY is this so bad?

So sorry to hear this. I had really bad heartburn for 31 weeks with DD (fortunately, it's just bed now at the end with this one, and not 'really' bad). I tried a whole bunch of things. One thing that gave me some comfort (enough to let me sleep about 4-6 hours, because I found at the end of last pregnancy, the worst part was when trying to sleep) was taking some apple cider vinegar right before bed. I didn't do it too often. This time around, I'm drinking slippery elm tea. Not sure if it's helping or if the heartburn is just less this time. The tums are doing nothing this time (they did work a little bit last time - but I didn't take too many). Good luck - I hope it goes away. The good news is, if it's pregnancy related, it usually disappears as soon as the baby joins you!

Holly, me too! I went to an ENT for a second opinion because I was just SURE I had a growth in my throat or some other kind of throat cancer. The first doctor told me the coughing and lump-in-the-throat feeling was acid reflux and I just didn't believe it since I never had any pain or actual heartburn! I do have heartburn occasionally now if I have a really bad day of eating things I should not...but mostly it's just the dry cough and the weird lump feeling.

I've been taking OTC omeprazole for probably a little over a year now. The ENT wanted me to take Nexxium but it was going to be like $400 a month with our insurance! He said omeprazole was the same thing and to get it at Walmart. I just hate taking medication that long, I'm hoping I can get looked at sometime later this year (while my deductible is all used up from having the baby!) and maybe they could recommend a different course of action for me. I know that medication makes me not digest food completely, too...so I'm really careful to take vitamins to make up for the loss.

Mama to a 5.5 yr old boy and a 2.5 yr old girl. Expecting baby 3 (another girl!) late June***4***8***12***16***20***24***28***32***36***

That was EXACTLY what happened to me! I live in a small, rural area and access to healthcare is limited. My "local" GP (60 mi away LOL) felt a 'mass' in my throat and combined with my difficulty swallowing, voice changes, weight loss, and coughing sent me immediately to the ENT and they were all talking cancer too. SO scary! I had to wait over a weekend and travel 250 mi to the specialist. I was soooo relieved to find out it was 'just' heartburn, but couldn't believe that I wouldn't have actual 'heartburn' symptoms, yanno?? When I explain LPR to people, they are like whhhaaattt?? Yes, Nexxium was one of the suggested for me too, but they said to try to Prilosec first as it's cheaper. I get mine from Costco and they seem to have a coupon it every few months, so I just buy some when it's on sale to have on hand.

~Mama to my boys~ to a teen, a tween & a toddler and surro-mama to twins and their sister

Just one word of advice for those of you with bad heartburn or GERD: sleeping on pillows can actually increase the pressure in your abdomen, which can push more acids out of your stomach and into your esophagus. The best thing to do is to elevate the head of your bed 4-6 inches so that you're sloped. You can get those plastic bed risers at the store, which are 4 inches, and just put them under the feet at the head of the bed. Sleeping on your left side can help as well.

DDCC

I had nasty acid reflux with my last pregnancy and have it again this time (but not as bad). Elevating the head of the bed works wonders. I'm finding that water is triggering my AR this time. Isn't that convenient?

Just updating to say that the papaya enzymes are working pretty well for me. I don't always feel absolutely comfortable after taking them... sometimes I feel a bit precarious, like the heartburn is lurking just round the corner... but they're way better than nothing! The almonds seem to have stopped working for me, unfortunately. :(

I got some chewable papaya enzyme tabs that are awesome. When I feel the heartburn rising I chew one or two and it goes away, enough that I can get to sleep or forget about it. I find that when I bend over forward is the worst - so I have to be really conscious of body position when giving massages!

I agree with the papaya enzymes. They've been really doing the trick this pregnancy. They don't cost as much in Alaska as in NZ! I think my bottle was around $10 (US, of course). If you are into homeopathics, my midwife said that there is a remedy for that as well, but unfortunately, I don't recall the name.

Happy Wife since 12/31/05 ~ Blessed Mama to 2/8/09 and 6/11/11, with on the way due 2/24/14

Glad I saw this thread...heartburn leading to vomiting has been a problem the last few days. I need to run out and get some papaya enzyme and see if that works for me. I have zantac and I'm trying that tonight. I thought at first that I had a stomach bug, but I'm not so sure. I didn't have any of these symptoms with my first pregnancy, it was pretty uneventful. So I am at a lost right now, with burping up what I ate and then throwing up and not getting a wink of sleep last night because of it, ending up staying home today to catch up on sleep and feel better.